When reflecting on Queen Latifah‘s career that has spanned over three decades, consistency comes to mind for not only her acting but especially her hair.
In a recent interview, the Emmy-winning actress revealed that she couldn’t afford hairstylists at the beginning of her career but when her edges started breaking off she went to her no-nonsense hip-hop roots and said “I ain’t about to lose my edges over no show.”
“I think I got very fortunate,” she told Essence reporter Brande Victorian. “I’ve always had fun with my hair as a young person because I couldn’t afford to — I didn’t have hair people when I was first starting out.”
Although she knew how to manage her hair on her own thanks to self-teaching and help from her mother, the 50-year-old actress went to the next level by studying her hairstylists; “I’ve had the great fortune of working with some really amazing makeup artists, hairstylists. And I studied them.”
After releasing her debut studio album “All Hail The Queen,” Latifah was also pursuing acting which meant she was getting her hair done up to five times a week.
“My edges started breaking and I was like yo. Now, you’re talking to hip-hop’s Queen Latifah, not Khadijah, I wasn’t quite there yet. So I was like, ‘I ain’t about to lose my edges over no show.'”
But thanks to Julie Baker, her hairstylist on set for Living Single, losing her edges would no longer be an option. Baker told Latifah to grow out her perm as her natural hair could better withstand the manipulation in comparison to her relaxed hair.
“I started to learn more about hair and hair care,” she recalled. “She comes from a family of hairstylists who really know about hair care.”
Photo by Barbara Nitke/CBS via Getty Images
The NAACP Image Award Winner also spoke to being the first Black woman in the reimagined role.
“Black women been equalizing for a long time,” she stated. “We have been equalizing for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years so I think it’s only right that you get to see it live on television.”
Tell us: What’s your favorite Queen Latifah hair moment?
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